Throughout the world, there are a large number of water bodies in which the microbiological, physicochemical, and/or esthetic conditions of the water body are not acceptable for recreational purposes, such as bathing and the practice of watersports having direct contact with the water. The quality of the water in these water bodies is such that it poses potential sanitary and safety risks to people coming into direct contact with the water. In addition, the esthetic conditions of these water bodies may be not attractive, pleasing, and/or ideal which may further discourage recreational use. Golf course ponds, retention ponds, public park ponds, dams, rivers, lakes, the ocean, ocean bays, river bays, and the like are examples of water bodies that may have microbiological, physicochemical, and/or esthetic conditions rendering the water body unsuitable for recreational uses. These water bodies can be found in the middle of crowded cities, in rural, or in low-population locations.
As the population of the world continues to increase, land is becoming a scarce resource with many land areas becoming occupied at a high speed. Coastal areas attract many people due to the proximity to the sea or rivers. However, the rapid development of these areas often results in available land being utilized for housing or industry which limits the opportunity to use the areas for recreational purposes. In non-coastal areas, many people do not have access to or live near water bodies having water quality and/or esthetic conditions suitable for recreational use. Within crowded cities that have natural or artificial water bodies, available land is typically utilized for housing or industry leaving no available inland spaces for generating water bodies that can improve the quality of life of the people in these cities by providing opportunity for the practice of water sports and other recreational uses associated with a water body. In addition, water bodies located within densely populated areas may not be suitable for recreational use due to debris, pollution, and/or unsafe conditions of the water body (such as sloped bottoms, poor clarity, and unknown underwater topography).
Many people around the world aspire to have access to locations having water bodies similar to tropical seas, where the water quality has low turbidity, high transparency and clarity that generates a crystal clear water effect, and white sand bottoms that create an esthetic feature that is attractive and desirable. The water clarity within tropical seas attracts tourists from all over the world. For example, in 2012, areas in and around the Caribbean welcomed nearly 25 million tourists, 5.4% more than in 2011 and it is expected that such number will continue to increase annually. Given the large number of water bodies throughout the world, there is a need to transform current unaesthetic and poor water quality water bodies in order to be able to effectively use them for recreational purposes in a safe manner. It therefore would be desirable to transform a water body or a portion thereof to provide a water body having the water quality and esthetic qualities provided by a tropical sea. The ability to transform such water bodies would provide for the economic development of local communities, as well as improvement of the lifestyle of a larger section of people all around the world by bringing an attractive tropical sea environment to an existing water body not suitable for recreational purposes.
Several studies have been performed on U.S. lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. For example, of the more than 17 million acres of lakes, reservoirs and ponds assessed, more than 44% were found to be impaired for one or more uses. These water bodies were found to be affected by nutrients, metals, siltation, total dissolved solids, and excess algal growth among other effects. It was determined that more than 41% of lakes within the U.S. pose a high or moderate risk for potential exposure to algal toxins, which could potentially have wide ranging impacts on human health. These studies also found that there are more than 140,000 water bodies that potentially could be used for recreational purposes, such as bathing or for the practice of aquatic sports having direct contact with the water, if the water quality and/or esthetic conditions were more suitable. Generally, these water bodies are not suitable for recreational purposes due to poor water quality and/or esthetic conditions that do not comply with recreational or esthetic water quality standards.
In addition, many existing water bodies, both natural and artificial, are not suitable for recreational purposes and water sports due to safety reasons associated with physical hazards, such as strong currents, dangerous shorelines, and/or uncertain or dangerous bottom features, and virtually none of them have the esthetic characteristics of tropical seas. In these water bodies, bathers or those participating in water sports may be exposed to one or more risks. For example, drowning can occur if bathers or water sport participants are caught in tidal or other types of currents or caught by submerged obstacles. Bathers or water sport participants can also be injured by slipping or falling into rocks or general types of debris and/or by beach areas or other shoreline areas having slopes that may be misjudged and pose safety hazards.
In order to allow for recreational purposes, a water body generally must comply with specific stringent regulations to avoid microbial and/or physiochemical contamination that may cause negative health effects for recreational users. This is of special importance in specific population groups that have higher risk of disease, such as the young and the elderly. Also, the effects of algae should be taken in account, as several human diseases have been reported that are associated with toxic species of algae that may be found in water bodies. Such regulations aim to control the micro-bacteriological and/or physiochemical quality of the water to provide water that is safe for recreational use involving direct contact with the water.
There are also many water bodies which have water quality suitable for recreational purposes but they are not esthetically attractive due to bottoms that are covered with sediments, debris, and/or sludge that provide a dark and unpleasant coloration to the water body. Water quality requirements for recreational purposes therefore often include requirements directed to the esthetic condition of the water. These requirements generally provide that the water body should be free from floating debris, floating algae, oil, scum and other matter that may settle to form deposits, free from substances that can produce objectionable color, odor, taste or turbidity, and free from substances that produce undesirable aquatic life. Regulations require that the water from recreational areas be clear enough to allow the users to estimate depth, to be able to see submerged hazards easily, and to detect submerged debris or physical hazards, such as rocks and sloped bottoms. Generally, the amount of light that can reach the bottom of the water body is determinant on the clarity of the water. However, the depth of light penetration in natural or artificial water bodies can be affected by the suspended microscopic plants and animals, suspended mineral particles, stains that impart a color, oils and foams, and floating and suspended debris such as leaves, litter, and others.
There are many locations throughout the world that could benefit from large water bodies having suitable water quality and/or esthetic conditions for recreational purposes and the practicing of nautical sports. However, such large water bodies cannot be treated with current technologies or with conventional swimming pool filtration technology for obvious reasons based in their large sizes, which would require new structures, and considerably high amounts of chemicals and energy. In many instances, structural modifications of the natural or artificial water bodies should also be performed to address esthetic conditions, such as changing a bottom that is covered with sediments, debris, and/or sludge, and hazardous conditions, such as providing safe slopes for beach areas, among other requirements. There are currently no economically viable technologies that provide for completely changing all of the water quality of large lakes or other large natural or artificial water bodies and/or providing an attractive coloration to water bodies which already possess good water quality but have unaesthetic characteristics that discourage recreational use. Therefore, there is a need for a system and methods capable of transforming a natural or artificial water body to provide an area within the water body having water quality and/or esthetic qualities suitable for recreational use and the practice of nautical sports.
Previous Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,870 discloses a floating swimming pool assembly that includes walls made from a flexible sheet, a buoyant rim portion, and a filter assembly. The floating swimming pool is designed for conventional swimming pool treatment and provides operational characteristics similar to a permanent pool installation, such as a conventional centralized filtration system that filters the total water volume of the floating pool from 1 to 6 times per day and a permanent chemical concentration. Such a system would not be suitable for use with a large floating lake, as it uses conventional swimming pool water treatment and filtration technology that is technically and economically not viable to apply in a large floating lake.
U.S. 2005/0198730 discloses a floating swimming pool apparatus. The main structural components of the apparatus are constructed of a waterproof glass fiber reinforced plastic that is rigid, which results in considerably high costs of materials and does not provide the flexibility to cope with water movement and structural loads associated with a large floating lake. Also, such apparatus is very difficult to scale into large floating lakes due to their structural limitations.